


Already Done

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 04:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: As one couple talk, another watches.





	Already Done

**Author's Note:**

> A weekend challenge, posted at the weekend, what sorcery is this?
> 
> For the seasons challenge, my word was “snow” and I got a picture much like the scene in the first paragraph. 
> 
> Also it’s really hard to write Ellie’s dad when the writers didn’t even give him a name, and not to be all “get off my lawn” or anything, but I can’t possibly be the only one head-canoning him as Lee Majors, can I?

There’s a thick, white blanket of snow stretching across the fields of the Bishop farm as far as the eye can see and Nick shivers as he steps out onto the back porch, kicking the door shut behind him. The sun is lowering towards the horizon, shooting deep orange beams through the scattered cloud and Nick thinks it would be a pretty awesome sight if it wasn’t so damn cold. 

Nick’s from Florida; he’s no fan of being cold. D.C. winters are bad enough; he thinks Oklahoma winters would kill him if he had to deal with them for any length of time. 

But for a short term visit, he can deal with it and the cold air is kind of bracing as he ever so carefully negotiates the back porch steps, mindful of the precious cargo he’s carrying. His boots crunch in the snow, the noise interspersing with the rhythmic thump of wood being chopped. He walks slowly, admiring the sight in front of him, but he admires it even more when Ellie straightens up and turns to look at him. 

The smile she gives him is brighter than the setting sun and he’d like to think she knew he was there because of the sound of his footsteps, or just some kind of sixth sense. However, he knows it’s because of the two cups of coffee he holds - Ellie’s like a bloodhound when it comes to coffee, which isn’t that surprising really. The joke is that one of the requisites for being on Team Gibbs is that your blood type should be a Caffeine Positive, but after years of working on the team, it’s not a joke anymore. 

“Aren’t we doing this the wrong way around?” he calls as he crosses to her. “The strong, handsome man delivering the coffee while the beautiful blonde chops firewood?” 

Ellie’s grinning at him and her eyes are dancing, though that could just be the promise of coffee. Still, he can hear the smile in her voice when she hefts the axe and lifts one eyebrow. “You sure you want to say that when I’m armed with this?” 

“Oh please,” he scoffs. “Like you’d mess up my perfectly symmetrical face.” 

She tilts her head to one side, purses her lips. “I don’t know.” She sounds thoughtful. “A scar might add some character...”

If his hands weren’t full, he’d be doing an excellent impression of a nineteenth century Victorian woman clutching their pearls. “Eleanor Bishop,” he says. “Don’t make me tell your mom on you.” 

Ellie gasps, her jaw dropping as her eyes narrow. “Low blow,” she decides and he shrugs, gives her a smug smile as she puts down the axe and he hands her the coffee. 

“Sorry, baby,” he says and he knows he sounds anything but. “But your mom loves me.” They might only have met properly for the first time a couple of days ago but Nick’s pretty damn fond of Barbara Bishop too, and not just because she reminds him of her daughter. He pushes his luck by adding on, “Apparently it’s a Bishop woman thing.” 

Ellie’s smile is sweet as can be; it’s how he knows he’s in trouble. “Maybe,” she allows. “But Dad and the boys would back me up.” Which is a fair point. The Bishop brothers had given him the over protective brother shtick the first time they’d ever met him, long before he and Ellie had been a thing, long before either of them had ever thought of it. And as for her dad, while Nick had only met him a couple of days ago too, he’d taken one look at him - a head taller than Nick, broad of shoulder yet lean of build, a Gibbs-esque air of no nonsense surrounding him - and resolved to be on his very best behaviour. Besides, it’s pretty clear that the phrase “Daddy’s Little Princess” could have been written for the relationship between Ellie and her dad. If the princess had been training in hunting, fishing and woodchopping, that is. “So I’m pretty sure you’d be outnumbered.” 

But as it happens, he has the perfect comeback. “You say that like your mom couldn’t scare them into submission.” 

“Ah.” Ellie blinks, purses her lips the way she does when she realises something and she’s not happy about it. “You may have a point there.” 

He hides his smile by taking a sip of coffee, then decides to hell with it, steps closer so that they’re toe to toe. The steam from the coffee rises between them but he’d see that grin through anything. “Face it, Ellie,” he tells her. “You’ll just have to keep on loving me... nothing else for it.” 

Her sigh is deep and theatrical. “Well, if I have to...” The words are followed by a giggle, which he swallows with a kiss. 

“You have to,” he says in a pause before he kisses her again. He’s smiling and his voice is teasing, but he’s totally serious. 

From the way her free hand bunches in his jacket, she knows that. 

From the way she kisses him back, she agrees with him. 

*

Nick and Ellie are so intent on each other that neither of them realise that their words carry perfectly on the clear, crisp, winter air. Right up to the house, to the back porch where the window is cracked open and her parents are standing, watching them. 

Barbara tears her eyes from her daughter to glance up at her husband. “Remember when we used to banter like that?” 

He actually snorts. “I may be old but I’m not senile,” he points out. “I believe it was yesterday.” He slips an arm around her waist, pulls her close to kiss the top of her head. Barbara snuggles in against him, is tempted to close her eyes but she can’t look away from Ellie and Nick. They’ve - thankfully - stopped kissing and are talking again. Ellie’s hand is stretched out towards the trees further back and Barbara hears her mention the swing that her father had made for her when she was six and she’d begged for one. Ellie’s wearing a grin from ear to ear as she talks and the look on Nick’s face can only be described as besotted. 

“I think you’re going to have to go buy a hat.” 

Her husband’s amused tone cuts through her reverie, has her looking at him sharply. “Is there something you want to tell me?” 

He chuckles as the implication of her words hit him. “No, no. No conversation.” She swats at his chest, none too happy that he’d played her like that. “Just a feeling.” 

Barbara glances back out the window, at the two people now standing right when Ellie’s swing used to be. “He is crazy about her,” she allows. “I was worried about her dating another co-worker... but she’s so happy. I don’t even think she was this happy with-”

There’s an actual honest-to-God growl that stops her before she can say the name. She just about stops herself from rolling her eyes; Voldemort has nothing on the name Jake Malloy as far as the Bishop men are concerned. “She never lit up like that with him either,” her husband notes and Barbara grins as she settles herself more comfortably into his arms. 

“You’re going to have to give another speech, you know,” she reminds him and this time it’s a groan she hears from the back of his throat. “And this time, I’m not writing it for you.” He hadn’t been able to find any nice words to say about Jake; she’s often wondered in years since if that should have been a warning. 

“You won’t have to,” he tells her and her eyes widen in surprise but she doesn’t move her head from his shoulder. “It’s already done.”


End file.
